Margie Hines
Marjorie L. Hines (better known as Margie Hines) was a voice actress who was already with Fleischer Studios long before they had auditioned more women to do the voice of Betty Boop. Hines was the first voice actress for Fleischer's popular Betty Boop and is classed as the original voice of said character, which debuted in the cartoon short Dizzy Dishes (1930). While she was touring in vaudeville, she was heard by Billy Murray, a member of the Fleischer staff who there and then found what they were seeking for Betty Boop. They talked business, and Max Fleischer hired Hines to perform "I Have To Have You", as she was a Helen Kane sound-alike and Kane was the basis for the character. Hines won a Helen Kane "Boop-a-Doop" contest in Brooklyn at the age of 17, and was given a part in a song-and-dance act which toured the country on Publix, Keith, Loew and Fox time. Hines and several other actresses voiced Betty until Mae Questel took over the role in 1931. Hines was the last person to voice Betty Boop in the original cartoon series in 1938 up until the character was retired in 1939. Hines continued to do voice-overs for Fleischer Studios until 1944, then retired from voice work. Before Hines entered the entertainment field, she was employed as an office worker in New York. Quotes *Helen Kane: "Margie Hines won three Boop-Boop-a-Doop contests. I think she won one of them or two in Brooklyn, and one at the Riverside Theatre, New York City. Let me see, where was I? In 1931, I should say, or 1932. I don't remember?" Master's Association of Kings County (1928) In 1928 around the age of 15-16 Margie entered a contest and won first place. The prize was a kewpie doll and was featured in the newspapers. Masters & Gautier Marjorie Hines (1930) Don Gautier, a comedian with a fine crooning voice, is the bright light in a trio In which Frank Masters, former chorine tutor at the Stanley, adds some chatter and dancing and Marjorie Hines, winner of the Helen Kane Boop-Boopa-Doop contest, sings with moderate appeal. (The Pittsburgh Press) Margie Hines Is Voice of Betty Boop (1931) You've wondered perhaps who it is that speaks for Betty Boop in Max Fleischer's inkwell cartoons on the screen. Her voice is the voice of Margie Hines, once on the vaudeville stage and in radio, who got her start in a Helen Kane "Boop-a-Doop" contest in Brooklyn. It was while she was Boop-a-Dooping in vaudeville that she was heard by a member of the Fleischer staff who realized her voice was just what they needed for Betty. (The Decatur Daily Review) Betty Boop's Voice (1931) This is the girl you never see on the screen but who's voice is heard every week by thousands of movie fans. She is the girl who supplies the voice for Betty Boop. She is Margie Hines who got her start when she won a Helen Kane "Boop-a-Doop" contest. (The Richmond Item) Ghost Voice (1932) Margie Hines the "baby" voice of the "Betty Boop" of the cartoon shorts, will try a vaudeville tour on the strength of the popularity of her "ghost" voice. She is never seen in the shorts but her voice is well known to theatergoers. (Fitchburg Sentinel) Musical Justice According to a draft in the transcript of the 1931 short Musical Justice, Margie Hines was going to play the role of Betty Boop in person but was replaced by Mae Questel, who then went on to perform "Don't Take My Boop-Oop-A-Doop Away" in said short. Instead, Hines can be heard performing "Don't Take My Boop-Oop-a-Doop Away" in the 1932 animated short Boop-Oop-a-Doop ''and again in the 1934 ''Fleischer Victory Newsreel. In Person Betty Boop (Miss Marjorie Hines) (1932) The mysterious Boop-a-Doop voice of the Paramount Talkartoons. The cutest little cherub ever to appear before the footlights. Hear her lisp her love songs. (The Hartford Courant) Voice Doubles (1932) Margaret Livingston was another who started doubling for a voice. Only she doubled for parrot. And Margie Hines may be heard of in her own name before long. She does a boop-a-dooping for the Betty Boop cartoon films. Aesop Fables Countess is Given New Voice (1932) Countess Cat, leading lady of the Aesop's Fable cartoon series has a new voice. This transformation was not brought by an operation, but by the singing of a contract, and the young lady involved is Marjorie Hines, well known radio artist and musical comedy star. By terms of the contract, Miss Hines is to lend her voice exclusively to cartoons produced by Van Beuren. The peculiar qualities of this young lady's voice make her particularly adaptable to the character of Countess Cat, which is more or less featured in the Fable series. Some of the Aesop's Fable cartoons released by RKO Radio in which Miss Hines voice is to be heard are Venice Vamp, Hokum Hotel, Pickaninny Blues, A Yarn of Wool and Bugs and Books. Hines provided the voice of Countess Cat in several animated shorts. The Countess is a parody of Betty Boop and made her solo appearance in The Farmerette where she stimulates lazy farm animals back to into work. Which was intended as a direct response to Fleischer's Betty Boop but instead of being a dog, she's a cat. Countess Cat was paired with up with Waffles Cat due to previous characters Milton Mouse & Rita Mouse (parodies of Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse) being stopped by an injunction by Walt Disney. The character also had her own scat lyrics similar to that of Betty Boop's - "Ha-Cha-Ha-Cha-De-De-Da-Da-Ha-Cha-Ha-Cha-De-De-Da *whistle, De-Do-Bo-Bo-Be-Do!" Hines also voiced several other Boop-ish characters in the Van Beuren & Terrytoons animated shorts, including a ZaSu Pitts character. Hines can be heard performing a "Boop Oop a Doop" number in the 1931 Terrytoon animated feature'' By the Sea. '' New Boop Boop a Dooper Likes the Stage But- (1933) Marjorie (Betty) Hines, Doll-voiced and Baby-Eyed, doesn't Crave the heartaches- Versatile Freeport Miss Happy in Kitchen. Usually it is the young ambitious girl who craves fame on the stage, while the gamily protests. With Marjorie Hines of Freeport the situation is reversed on the eve of 21, slender and shapely to the tilt of 98 pounds, dark hair intrifuinfly curied around a tiny face and a big baby blue eyes, the young miss, who belongs to the boop-a-doop group of entertainers says "Oh, I like the show business, But too many heartaches in it. Too much uncertainty." Three years ago the talented Freeport girl who can boop-a-doop with the best of the doll-voiced boop-a-doopers sprang overnight from the family fireside to place behind the footlights by winning a Helen Kane imitation contest at a local cinema cathedral. She had entered, nervous and hesitant, only at the urging of her mother and uncle. Today her family still urge her to take advantage of the opportunities that come her way. And Miss Hines, still heeding them, continues in the theatrical business ,with decided leanings to the movies, radio and phonograph recordings. And between auditions and appearances is happy cooking in the family kitchen at 75 N. Bay view Ave and every Monday night playing bridge with friends in Free-port. Her talent at the type of singing made famous by the chubby Helen won Miss Hines after the contest a chance to create the voice of Betty Boop of the movies. She was the original of Betty, who in turn was the original femme in movie cartoons. After that she did a series called Aesop's Fables, imitating goldfish, a cat's meow or as she said "most anything they wanted me to!" Freeport calls her "Betty" because of the character she played. A boyfriend? In love? Marriage? To the first question she admitted "Yes!" To the others she responded with blushes and silence though, later she confessed that sometimes she thinks marriage and domesticity better than a career. Harry Warren America's Foremost Composer In 1933, Margie Hines made a live-action appearance in Harry Warren: America's Foremost Composer, where she performed in her Betty Boop singing style. The American Magazine (1933) In October 1933, Margie Hines was featured in The American Magazine, on page 60 of Interesting People (Boop-A-Dooper Marjorie Hines). According to Margie Hines in the 1933 interview, she claimed that, three years earlier when she was seventeen, she won a Helen Kane Boop-a-Doop contest and automatically became the voice of Betty Boop of flicker cartoons. She loved reading a lot of novels, and always wore pink and blue. She never ate till a day's work was done, sometimes she ate at midnight. Then she relaxed and had a great big dinner, and lived in the countryside of New York. The Original Betty Boop (1933) The original Betty Boop, by the way was Marjorie Hines, a Brooklyn girl, who may be called as a witness. Helen Kane: "I'm sore but I think this trial is going to be fun." Marjorie Hines, the first Betty Boop, was succeeded later by Mae Questel. There is now still a third Betty. All three have sung on the radio under the cartoon name, and no one seems to have noticed the difference. The Nassau Daily Review (1934) The first Freeport connection with the case lies in the fact that Helen's husband, Max Hoffman, Jr. is the son of Gertrude Hoffman, well known Freeport dancing and dramatic teacher. The second was the appearance of Margy Hines, a Freeport girl, as a witness in the proceedings. Fleischer presented Miss Hines as one of the three girls whom he has used at various times for the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" effects that go with the Betty Boop films. Original Betty Boop Girl With Orchestra (1934) All of the men "double" that is, play several instruments and in addition he features Marjorie Hines, one of the original Betty Boop girls of the Max Fleisher cartoons. (The Evening News) $250,000 Lawsuit Margie Hines was involved in $250,000 Infringement Lawsuit. Hines was summoned to testify. She was asked if she knew the meaning of the disputed "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" sounds; she replied "Well, I call them licks." Miss Hines said she won a preliminary contest before she ever heard Miss Kane. (The Pittsburgh Press) Miss Marjorie Hines (1934) Perhaps you've heard her with Gus Arnheim and Huston Ray. If not, and you go to the movies we're sure you've heard her as the voice behind those Betty Boop flicker cartoons. That's the way Marjorie started her career. Since then she has been many things: A baby's cry, the voice of a gold fish a cat's meow! And now a featured orchestra singer. The voice you have often heard in the movies as the birds and bees flitted across the screen after cute Betty Boop, is also a cute radio voice. Jack Fulton of Paul Whiteman's outfit thinks so and he's the boy that brought Marjorie to Charley Gaylord via Gus Arnheim via Huston Ray via NBC. Marjorie told us she likes to read a lot of novels. "goes for" pink and blue, never eats a big meal until she is through singing usually until midnight. Will marry someday and he'll probably be a college boy (Boop-a-Doop). Has friends everywhere in the movies and radio. Worked with Vic Erwin (former local boy) in that network Betty Boop series. Miami, Florida Mae Questel, who was Fleischer's voice for Betty Boop and Popeye characters Olive Oyl and Swee'Pea during the mid 1930s, refused to move with the Fleischer Studios staff when they left New York City for Miami, Florida. As a result, Hines was hired to replace Questel in both the Betty Boop and Popeye series, beginning in 1938. Hines voiced Betty through her final series entries in 1938 and 1939, and continued to voice Olive until 1943, when the studio, by then taken over by Paramount Pictures and renamed Famous Studios, returned to New York. The Marry-Go-Round (1943) was Hines final short as the voice of Olive Oyl, with Questel returning to the role in 1944. Songs Performed as Betty Boop *"I Have To Have You" *"Barnacle Bill The Sailor" *"Do Something" *"You're The One I Care For" *"Hello Beautiful" (My Wife's Gone to The Country and Bimbo's Express) *"Where'd You Get Those Eyes?" *"Violet for Grandma" *"Won't You Come And Play At My House?" *"Don't Take My Boop-Oop-A-Doop Away" *"Dancing to Save Your Sole" *"Then I'll Be Happy" *"On With The New" *"So Does An Automobile" *"Who Cares" *"On With the New" *"Red Hot Indian Beat" Filmography 1930 *''Dizzy Dishes'' *''Barnacle Bill'' 1938 *''Sally Swing'' *''On with the New'' *''Thrills and Chills'' 1939 *''My Friend the Monkey'' *''So Does an Automobile'' *''Musical Mountaineers'' *''The Scared Crows'' *''Rhythm on the Reservation'' Death *Hines was presumed to have died in 2011 at the age of 101. Gallery betty boops voice original margie hines before mae questel.png Margie hines.jpg Margie Hines & Husband Popeye Mercer.jpg Margie hines01.jpg Margie hines 02.jpg Margie hines 03.jpg Margie hines 04.jpg hines and rubin.png Young Margie Hines Age 15 or 16 1928.png Margie Hines 1928 Entered A Lot Of Contests 15-16 Year Old.png The Original Voice of Betty Boop Marjorie Hines Real Betty Boop.png Trivia *Little Ann Little claimed she was the original voice but hadn't debuted into the role until 1932. *Hines also provided the voice of Betty in the Betty Boop Fables radio show, which was shared with Questel and Bonnie Poe. *Margie was five feet and-a-half small and weighed 98-odd pounds. *Margie also "Boop-a-Dooped" from station Pittsburgh Station KDKA and received numerous fan letters. *Margie was from Wantagh, Long Island. *Was featured in a 1932 Warner Brothers film entitled The Perfect Suitor, as the leading lady. *She also did the voice for Olive Oyl from the Popeye series for a short while. *From 1939 to the early 1940s, Hines was briefly married to co-star Jack Mercer, who provided the voice of Popeye the Sailor. The two were later divorced. *When she was married to Jack Mercer, he would tell people that he was married to Olive Oyl. *Hines was the first and last person to voice Betty in the original cartoon series (in 1930 and 1939). *Margie Hines also lent her voice to many Fleischer Studios cartoons, including the Stone Age Cartoons as various characters and also voiced Mrs LadyBugin the Fleischer feature film Mr Bug Goes To Town. She also had a small part in Gulliver's Travels, as a female Lilliput denizen, and did main character Princess Glory's crying and sobs. * In 1932, Hines also did vocals for Aesop's Film Fables, produced by Van Beuren Studios. Her Van Beuren credits were erroneously attributed to Bonnie Poe, another actress who had voiced Betty Boop. *Margie Hines' name has been mispelled/changed in various credits: Margie Heinz, Margie Heintz, Marge Hines, Marjorie Hines, Margaret Hines and sometimes Margret Hines. The L. in her middle name is Louise. *Hines was paid tribute/referenced alongside her ex-husband Jack Mercer on Reddit, on the 24th of March 2015. See Also *Margie Hines at BTVA *Margie Hines at the IMDb Category:Article stubs Category:People Category:Voices of Betty Boop